THE campaign week – now in its 4^th year – is set to take place 25 to 29 January and will feature online events, videos, podcasts, and blogs showcasing the history of village halls and the benefits they have derived for rural communities over the years.  

The initiative is being led nationally by Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) and echoed by the 38 county-based rural development charities which make up the ACRE Network.

Deborah Clarke, ACRE’s Rural Evidence and Village Halls Manager said:

“The past year has been one of the most challenging periods for village halls on record. Many closed due to the government’s coronavirus restrictions, yet the volunteers who manage these buildings applied for emergency funding and put in place COVID-19 Secure measures so they could carry on providing a safe space for their community when it was most needed. Village Halls Week 2021 is in many ways, a celebration of the fact these halls are true survivors!”

Managed by volunteers, England’s 10,000+ village and community halls support a diverse range of community activities from exercise classes to coffee mornings and are routinely hired out for private parties and weddings. Some host community shops and post offices.

In a survey undertaken by ACRE last year, it was found that 60% of village halls provide the only meeting space in the local community. An estimated 50,000 individuals are reliant on the use of village halls to make a living.

More than 6,000 people all over the UK have, without fuss or fanfare, quietly set up similar collections in their own homes, workplaces, schools or community centres.

They spread the word locally, and accept waste from friends, families, colleagues and neighbours. Some buy bins and leave them at the top of their drives for strangers to chuck in their plastic. Others persuade local shops, supermarkets and even pubs to have drop-off containers there. One I speak to, Olivia McGuinnes in Derbyshire, has hundreds of crisp packets and baby food pouches currently stored in her utility room. “My husband’s not mad about it,” she admits.

Then, when these collections reach a certain quantity, they are sent off to a private company, called TerraCycle, to be recycled.

In return, the volunteers receive two things.

The first is a small donation to a charity of their choice. In George’s case, he’s earned £17,000 for a variety of good causes over six years.

The second is the knowledge they are doing their bit to save the planet from what David Attenborough – who knows a thing or two about this stuff – has called “the untold harm” of plastic waste. “I’m quite fond of the world,” muses George. “So it’s worth saving.”